


Born Behind the Veil

by ObsessedtwibrarianOTB



Category: Original Work
Genre: Caulbearers, F/M, Flash Fic, Past Lives, Psychic Abilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-07-14 06:37:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7157654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsessedtwibrarianOTB/pseuds/ObsessedtwibrarianOTB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The greatest act of courage is to be and own all that you are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Born Behind the Veil

**Author's Note:**

> This was written off of a First Line Prompt: "When I woke up, the other side of the bed was cold." (790 words, including author note.)

When I woke up, the other side of the bed was cold. Disoriented, my heart thumping wildly, I turned my head to look. _He’s gone!_ A quick glance down at my hands. _No straps!_ I was free. My hands took on a life of their own and snaked their way beneath the covers, settling on my stomach, my _swollen_ stomach. _I made a baby with him?? Oh dear God in Heaven, NO!_

Panicked—lungs screaming to breathe the air of freedom, mind raging over the mystery of where he was—I scrambled out of the tangled blankets, cold floorboards underneath my feet, eyes frantically searching out the shadows, waiting for them to take shape and recapture me. I listened. Morning stillness sat heavily upon the house like a funeral shroud. _He really isn’t here!_

Throwing caution out the window, I stampeded—night-gowned and barefoot—down the short hallway, out the front door and into the calmness of an early spring dawn. I ran until my body surrendered. Falling exhausted to the damp grass, I fought to breathe while thoughts of my newfound freedom frolicked joyfully, but hesitantly, inside my brain. _Where do I go now? Who can I tell?_   Who was I kidding? I was Rachel, a common scullery maid and a known teller of outlandish tales. _Who will even believe me??_

With a shudder of disgust, I looked down at the swollen mass attached to my body like a blood-filled leech. _His baby._ The thought of bringing that monster’s progeny into the world sent a stream of thin bile spewing from my mouth. Coughing, sobbing, and knowing in my heart that true freedom was a much longer journey than the short jaunt I’d just taken, I collapsed in a defeated heap of bed-tangled hair and dew-sodden linen.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------

 

“Sarah?”

I startled awake to see David standing over me in his adorkable flannel Star Wars pajamas, with a love-filled mask of concern on his face.

I sighed his name in relief. “David.”

My latest dissociative fugue was now a quickly fading memory; I shut my eyes and forced my brain to re-orient—a ‘hard restart’ as my tech-savvy husband jokingly called it.

He dropped to the ground and eased my useless, adrenaline-trashed body into his strong arms. Shivering from the damp, I folded myself into his welcoming warmth and eagerly slipped back into the wonderful life I was currently living.

“Yes, it’s David, sweetheart. You’re with me. You’re okay.”

I nodded, feeling safe and silently thankful I’d been given a beautiful life with this understanding man. Being in love with a Caulbearer was not easy.

“Who were you this time?” he asked.

“My name was Rachel. I was being held captive by this sadistic guy, like a lord of a manor or something. I woke up in his bed; the straps holding me down were gone, and I was free, for some reason. So, I ran. Definitely _not_ the best past life I’ve ever lived.”

“Jesus,” he said softly, tenderly stroking my hair. “I don’t how you live with this all the time.”

I chuckled quietly. “Me?? I don’t know how _you_ live with this all time, or how you live with _me._ ”

His hand slid to my stomach, tenderly caressing the fullness of his unborn child. “It’s because I love you,” he said. “And I love this precious little girl we’ve created together.”

I laid my hand on top of his and sighed. “The odds are against us. You know that, right? We can’t fight genetics, David. She’s going to be born behind the veil, just like my grandmother, my mother, and me. She’s going to have a lot of heavy stuff to deal with. Just like me.”

“Then we’ll teach her how to deal with it, _together_. We’ll make sure she knows there’s nothing wrong with her, that this is who she is and to be proud of it.”

I smiled as I felt David’s inner strength flow into me and fill the cracks of my doubts with confidence and love.

_I can’t wait to see what gifts our daughter brings to this world…_

\-------------------------------------------

 

 **AUTHOR’s NOTE:** A Caulbearer is a child who is born with a caul, or skin veil (a mask of thin membrane) that covers the child’s full face. (This membrane is not the amniotic sac.) Such births are quite rare (1 in 800,000) and tend to run in families. Children who are born behind the veil sometimes display special gifts and abilities.

In my story, Sarah gets brief glimpses of the lives she’s lived in the past. Other Caulbearers have healing powers, can foresee the future, are gifted leaders, or have other psychic abilities. I find the whole subject fascinating.

If you want to read more just Google "Caulbearers".


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